Morning Dish

The Morning Dish – Saturday, October 11th

Case Dismissed, Mostly: The Big East has dropped the ACC from its lawsuit over conference expansion. Connecticut judge Samuel Sferrazza dropped the conference from consideration in the suit, which now has Miami as the sole defendant in an alleged plot to weaken the Big East football offering. Sferrazza agreed with ACC attorneys who claimed that the ACC did not have enough business dealings in the state of Connecticut to warrant being sued, but Miami, who is still a member of the Big East for this season, is within the bounds of the lawsuit.

Tucker Out: Wisconsin sophomore forward Alando Tucker will miss at least four weeks of action after breaking a bone in his right foot Thursday. Tucker, who started as a freshman at power forward, averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds per game, leading the Big Ten in offensive rebounds. The Badgers start practice on October 18th, have two exhibitions on November 7th and 18th, and their first regular season game is November 21st against Penn.

Clemons Cleared: Former Missouri guard Ricky Clemons has been cleared of any cheating or academic fraud – at least at BYU. Clemons, who was dismissed from the Tiger program this summer, had allegations of academic fraud levied against him by his former girlfriend, which flagged an NCAA investigation. In order to be academically eligible, Clemons took 24 credit hours in two months to complete his associate’s degree. Several of those credit hours were obtained through BYU’s correspondence courses, where Clemons took sociology, anatomy, and biology subjects, receiving A’s and B’s. Concurrently, Clemons was allegedly receiving improper academic assistance at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kansas. Clemons also took correspondence courses from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado.

Hicks Partially Cleared: Cincinnati sophomore forward Eric Hicks has been partially restored back to the Bearcat squad. Hicks, who was arrested in May on assault charges, was placed on indefinite suspension by the school, and was barred from contact from the team or the school’s athletics programs. The May 19th incident, where Hicks threw a beer bottle at a woman at a nightclub, was originally slated for felony assault, but a grand jury recommended misdemeanor assault charges, and Wednesday the court sent the case to private mediation. Once mediation is completed, it’s likely that his assault charge will be dropped, and Hicks will be reinstated fully to the team. Hicks averaged 2.5 points and 3.6 boards as a freshman last season.